Jake Cave is in a hitter's zone with the Tampa Yankees

When hitters are in a zone, sometimes the baseball looks as big as a basketball. But for Jake Cave, whose bat has been cooking on high since the All-Star break, there's a more detailed explanation.

"I just feel like I'm not missing the pitches I want to hit," said Cave, a Kecoughtan graduate now in his second full season in the New York Yankees' organization. "Everybody knows I'm not a fan of the inside fastball. A lot of lefties are, but I'm not. I prefer to get the ball over the plate.

"So when I'm going like I am now, I'll take that borderline pitch instead of getting jammed up. I know that no matter what level, the pitcher will make a mistake. So if he puts that fastball over the plate, I'm not going to miss it. That's what I've been doing, hitting the ball with authority and not missing the balls I want to hit."

That he has. Cave, leading off for the Class-A Tampa Yankees, is hitting a team-best .313 with 21 RBI and 42 runs scored in 75 games. Since the break, he's hitting .444 with an on-base percentage of .500.

Wednesday night against Clearwater, he was 5-for-6. The following night, he went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.

Singles, doubles, opposite way, pulling it … it all comes so easy when you're on a roll. Cave grew up used to those rolls. As a senior at Kecoughtan, he hit .609 with 16 extra-base hits in 23 games. He drew 26 walks, many intentional — including one time with runners on first and second.

Though he was also a well-regarded left-handed pitcher, the Yankees were drawn to his hitting. So the Bombers took him in the sixth round of the MLB draft out of Kecoughtan in 2011.

In his first game with the Yankees' Gulf Coast League team, Cave was injured when his right knee hit the catcher's shin guard on a play at the plate. It ended up being a fractured kneecap, and he was done for the season.

He went through rehab, but during extended spring training it was determined he'd need surgery. His surgeon was the same guy who operated on Mariano Rivera's torn ACL. There would be no more games in 2012.

But in '13, Cave was his old self. In Single-A Charleston (S.C.), he hit .282 with 37 doubles, six triples and 69 runs scored. Now, he's with the Yankees' advanced A-club in the Florida State League. He played in the league's All-Star game, in which he drew a walk in his only plate appearance.

"I feel great with how things are going," he said. "I wanted to get out there and have a good year like I did last year."

After a 1-for-12 start, Cave has been the Yankees' most consistent hitter. He's hitting .292 against left-handers and has gotten to the point that matchups don't enter his mind.

"I remember back in travel ball, I liked hitting lefties," he said. "But last year, when I got in pro ball, obviously it's not the same type of lefty. You see lefties throwing 92 consistently. I just worked with my hitting coach, and he throws from angles and from behind me during batting practice.

"Then, when I started hitting lefties good, it became a confidence thing. At the beginning of the year, it was like, 'OK, they have a lefty, I have to zone in because it'll be tough.' Now, it's more like, 'There's a lefty on the mound? It doesn't matter.'"

Cave's ability to hit the opposite way also has made a difference.

"When you can do that, it helps clear up so much of the field," he said. "The day before yesterday, three of my (five) hits were to left field. So for my first at-bat (Thursday), in the wind-up, I saw the whole infield shade over to the left side.

"They were looking for me to hit to the opposite field. So I hit a hard ground ball down the first base line for a double because nobody was there."

Obviously, the Yankees' brass is aware of the season Cave, who will turn 22 in December, is having. Will that lead to a promotion to Double-A Trenton sooner rather than later?

"One of my goals this year is to finish up in Trenton," Cave said. "I know I don't have any control over it, but I want to make them make a decision. I want the Yankees' management to say, 'We have to move him up at some point.'

"That's all I can do is try to control that, and I think I'm doing that. I just want to put up quality at bats and keep looking mature at the plate. That's the kind of stuff that could get me moved up."

Johnson can be reached at 757-247-4649.

JAKE CAVE

TEAM: Tampa Yankees

POSITION: CF

NUMBERS: Hitting a team-best .313 with 99 hits, 42 runs, and a .367 on-base percentage. … Is hitting .444 in the second half of the season. … Went 8-for-10 in his last two games prior to Friday night.